Growth is the only essential thing you need to be a startup. It has nothing to do with being a new company, tech-based, raising money or with a cool sounding name. It’s all about growth. Growth metric varies from one company to another, however the most commonly used metric is the rate at which a product is adopted by users. So how does a startup with limited resources and zero brand equity acquire users 10x more than the incumbent? The answer is not a bigger marketing budget or a better brand, it is growth hacking. In this workshop, we’ll explore the concept of growth hacking and how it is different from traditional marketing. We’ll use case studies and stories to provide practical how-to guides on strategy, tactics and tools you can use to acquire users even if you have zero/low marketing budget. And how to bake growth into the DNA of your product development. It's intended for people currently running a business and have recognised customer acquisition as a pain point they need to address.

1. how to acquire users when you have zero
marketing budget
Dotun Olowoporoku
Growth Hacking Masterclass
thestarta.com

2. About me • First business as an undergrad
• BSc, MSc and PhD – environmental science
• Post-doctoralResearch Fellowship
• Founded meals.co.ukin 2012
• Raised $1m seed investment
• Managed team across 3 cities
• Pivot business model to B2B hyperlocal
logistics platform
• Venture Partner at Potential.VC – early stage
investment syndicate
• Now working on Starta

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What we’ll cover
• The Basics of Growth Hacking
• Growth Hacking is a mindset
• Growth is a process not an event
• 17 Growth Hacking tactics

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5. “There is a big shift in communication and the way people
want to engage and do business with brands and businesses.
The speed of change will continue."
exponentialtimes calls for exponential thinking

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1. Commoditised Services
2. Democratised Channels
3. Blurred line product and
business development
What is changing

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What growth looks like

8. What growth looks like – AirBnB’s Growth

9. “Growth hacking is a marketing technique
developedby technology startups which use
creativity, analytical thinking, and social metrics to
sell products and gain exposure.."
thestarta.com

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Growth Hacker Needed
Sean Ellis
founder and CEO of
Qualaroo.

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• Zero brand equity
• Traditional marketing
leads to high burn rate
• Higher risk of reaching
inflection point with
traditional marketing
Why you should consider growth hacking

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How Hotmail grew to 12million users
PS: I love you. Get your free email at Hotmail

13. “Forget press releases or advertisements. Let’sfigure out
something that’s never been done before and is specifically
designed to leverage the strengths of our product."
Growth hacking is a mindset,
not a toolkit
thestarta.com

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“Growth Hacker is someone whose
true north is growth”

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“Growth Hacker understands technology
very deeply”

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“Growth Hacker constantly seeks scalable,
repeatable ways to grow the business”

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1.Know your customers
2.Know their language
3.Know what they want
4.Know where they reside
5.Know how to reach them
5 Golden Rules of Growth Hacking

18. “Growth Hacking is a system, not a
bag of tricks"
thestarta.com

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Define specific actionable
growth metrics
Growth Hacking Checklist 1 – Growth Metrics

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• Bad example: increase customer base
• Good example: get 10,000 new email
subscribers
• Too broad: increase daily active users
• Specific: increase social media engagement by
2x
Growth Hacking Checklist 1 – Growth Metrics

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Without measuring, goals
are empty
Growth Hacking Checklist 2 – Analytics

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Growth Hacking Checklist 2 – Analytics
• Grow business
• Increase weekly active users
• Increase retention
(repeat business)
• Increase percentage
of users booking at
least 4x
Set goals in hierarchies

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Growth Hacking Checklist 2 – Analytics
• Do you currently track user metrics at all?
• Do you track users by cohorts or just in
aggregate?
• Do you track metrics around the acquisition
channels
• Do you track the devices where users are
coming from?
• Do you track the referring URL’s where
users are coming from?
• Do you track actions which facilitates
retention and increased usage?

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Growth Hacking Checklist 3 – Growth Lever
leverage existing strength
“Give me a lever long enough and a
fulcrum on which to place it, and I
shall move the world.”

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Growth Hacking Checklist 4 – experiment
Analysis keeps you honest -
numbers don’t lie
“a defined goal should be attacked from
multiple angles”

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Growth Hacking Checklist 5 – Optimise
If all you know is that your
business made more money in
Q4 than in Q3, then you know
nothing. Why was Q4 better?

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Growth Hacking Checklist 6 – Rinse and
Repeat
success is more a
byproduct of tenacity, and
less a child of luck.

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Neil Patel’s 3 Levels of Customer Funnel
1. get visitors: finding ways for
people to see your product!
2. activate members: helping
people take predefined actions
in your product
3. retain users: helping people
become habitual users of your
product

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Customer Funnel Level 1: getting visitors
• having a blind date - acquisition,
referral
• act of getting anyone to visit your
website or know your product for the
first time.
• 3 ways to get someone to visit your
website or app.
• Pull them in
• Push them in,
• Use the product to bring them in.

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Customer Funnel Level 2: activating members
• being in a relationship - activation,
revenue
• joining an email list
• creating an account
• making a purchase.
• Not just visitors, now members

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Customer Funnel Level 3: retaining users
• getting married – retention
• the holy grail of growth hacking.
• hard to turn a visitor into a
member, but even harder to turn
a member into a user.

32. “It’s the 213th tactic that will probably
work, not the 7th"

33. “scratch that, let’s talk about the
tactics anyway"

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1. Be Social
• Be active and awesome on social
media
• Follow your target audience
• Engage with them
“70% of buying experiences are based on how the
customer feels they are being treated.”

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2. Use bare bone homepage

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3. Optimise your website speed
• 1-second delay in page load
time yields:
– 11% fewer page views
– 16% decrease in customer
satisfaction
– 7% loss in conversions
developers.google.com/speed/

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4. Use specific landing pages for key features

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5. Blog, blog, blog your way to leadership
• Become a thought leader by blogging and
guest blogging
– Listicles
– Pictures
– Research data
– Insight
– Unique knowledge

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6. Everyone loves infographics, use them
infographics simultaneously display
expertise and aesthetic taste, and
spread easily on social media

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7. Share on high traffic forums
become the go-to guy expert on Nairaland, Radar etc

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8. A/B test headlines and (CTA) call to
actions

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9. Preach to your audience through newsletter

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10. Build mission-focused community around
your product

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11. Pull audience congregating
elsewhere

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12. Enable user journey to incentivise
sharing

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13. Leverage on curiosity, competitiveness
to create social contest

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14. Prime the pump by seeding the supply

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15. Create faux scarcity and exclusivity /
FOMO

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16. Retarget people who have visited the
site already

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17. Get affiliates to sell your product

51. “How we are driving growth at Starta"

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